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Coroner Fiona Wilcox said she ordered a pre-inquest review because “various matters” needed to be addressed before the full inquest, which was initially scheduled for today.

Sir Desmond was admitted to the hospital for elective heart surgery on November 27, 2017, “which sadly was complicated”, the coroner said.

She added: “I have reason to suspect that before this procedure started the whole chain of events, this death would not have occurred.”

Family 'had areas of concerns'

Sir Desmond had suffered a damaged aortic valve and also had a temporary pacemaker removed while at the hospital in December 2017, the inquest heard.

He then suffered a stroke which was confirmed by the beginning of January 2018.

The solicitor for the family, David Story, told the coroner Sir Desmond's relatives had several “areas of concern” around his care at the hospital, but the coroner said some were not appropriate for the inquest.

The Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea

Mr Story said: “There are some concerns the family have in relation to the care and monitoring on the ward.

“One, staffing levels on the ward, two, infection levels on the ward, in particular, a lot of staff seemed to be unwell and some of the patients seemed to have infections or flu-type symptoms.

“And the measures that were put in place by the trust to prevent any spread of that infection.”

Ms Wilcox said: “Those are issues the family may wish to explore outside the court.”

Referring to another concern, Mr Story said: “The fact that Sir Desmond was placed under what the family have described as a freezing air vent with cold air being poured onto him for an extended period.”

He said it is also suspected issues included broken dialysis machines could have “caused a delay” to treatment.

Coroner to look at complications

The coroner scheduled a three-day inquest to begin on April 30, 2019.

She said the main matters would be “the complications that occurred rather than the surgery itself”.

Reports related to the death will be handed to the coroner before the inquest.

Ms Wilcox also dismissed previous press reports which said his family were forced to wait for Sir Desmond's body to be released and for his death certificate.

She said: "That's just incorrect - Sir Desmond was released straight away after post-mortem.

"What was in the report was incorrect."

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